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Yeah. Dual citizens have to register with the embassy or face a fine. The men living abroad are also subjects for possible drafts. The deadline already passed.
What "deadline?"
They took my hammer-and sickle- citizenship away and booted me out of the country long time ago)))
I am a trouble-maker don't you know)))
If Russian were the 2nd official language in Estonia, much less people would feel the need to study Estonian at all. This would create a even bigger disparity between the the two communities. Countries which have a small population cannot allow a 2nd official language if they want to protect and conserve their identity and culture. Having Russian as an official language would be a threat to this.
Well, in Finland, which does not have a large population (though larger than Estonia), both Finnish and Swedish are official languages.
About 300,000 people in Finland speaks Swedish as their native language. But on the other hand, all those Swedish-speaking people (with the only exception of 28,000 Ã…land islanders), also speaks Finnish perfectly well. Swedish is about as similar to Finnish, as Russian is to Estonian (both cases are Indo-European langauges vs. Uralic), which is, not similar at all. But it works. Swedish used to be the "big brother language" of Finland until late 19th century. But during the years, the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland, who used to be the ruling class, has now become ordinary Finnish citizens like any others, and they have learnt to live with it. But that does not mean they are treated like second class citizens or anything like that, Swedish-speaking people in Finland, who can also speak Finnish, are just as respected as any others, even the Prime Minister of Finland is a Swedish-speaker, and so is the Minister of Defense.
So a country with a small population and 2 official languages is not necissarily a bad thing, if the ones speaking the minority language also gets to learn the majority language like any others.
Well you can stop right there. If the grammar there is the same as in Russian, but the roots of the words are unrelated, then I'd personally find such language very difficult to learn. I try to help Russians who are learning English. But I have hard time teaching foreigners Russian, my own son including. I don't know where even to start there - the amount of basic stuff to be churned in order to speak and understand is too much for me.
They can? Really?
So there we go - "some" is a key word. I'm sure *some* Russians can master Estonian or Latvian/Lithuanian, but obviously not many of them, and their population in Estonia is what... -about 400, 000?
Do you really think all these people are capable of learning Estonian language "en mass?"
So let's call it purely "physical" issue ( the ability to learn foreign language - difficult one at that.)
But then of course there is a "mental" issue as well, and Kuukulgur is certainly right when he is talking about Russians demanding "preferential treatment" in this respect.
Back in time, when I was not thrilled with life in the Soviet Union ( let's put it mildly), I was often asking Westerners why would they even learn Russian at the first place, what was their interest, what was their purpose? The answer was - "interesting history, different ( comparably to us) culture, weight in international politics" and in some cases - since their job was in the area of technology and they participated in programs of cooperation/exchange, then it made sense for them to pick some Russian.
So there you go. You put an effort ( and learning Russian does take an effort) because you see certain value in it as a venue to something worthy of attention, something that enriches you. Russians obviously don't see such value of Estonian language, ( as much effort as it takes to learn it,) since they don't see any particular advantages of Estonian culture - and that's on top of purely "physical" inability to learn it.
I don't believe there's a "physical' impossibility to learning Estonian. As Magnus said, the Swedes in Finland all speak Finnish. And Swedes have a greater leap to make in learning Estonian/Finnish than Russians do, since Swedish has a very simple grammar.
But what you're saying, essentially, when you say Russians see no value in learning Estonian, is that their main problem is one of attitude. They're creating the obstacle by convincing themselves that Estonian language and culture are worthless, instead of approaching study of the language as an adventure of discovery, not to mention the not small matter that it is a stepping-stone to citizenship.
And yes, Western university students, and some people who want to travel to or live in Finland, do learn Finnish or Hungarian.
If 300,000 Swedsh-speaking people in Finland can learn to speak Finnish, then 400,000 Russian-speaking people in Estonia sure can learn to speak Estonian.
The languages are equally different, e.g Swedish is not similar to Finnish, and Russian is not similar to Estonian. But it works.
I don't believe there's a "physical' impossibility to learning Estonian. As Magnus said, the Swedes in Finland all speak Finnish. And Swedes have a greater leap to make in learning Estonian/Finnish than Russians do, since Swedish has a very simple grammar.
But what you're saying, essentially, when you say Russians see no value in learning Estonian, is that their main problem is one of attitude. They're creating the obstacle by convincing themselves that Estonian language and culture are worthless, instead of approaching study of the language as an adventure of discovery, not to mention the not small matter that it is a stepping-stone to citizenship.
And yes, Western university students, and some people who want to travel to or live in Finland, do learn Finnish or Hungarian.
Uh-huh.
The idea that Russian speakers don't want to learn Latvian or Estonian because it is of no value is ridiculous. Most of us live 99% of our lives in our local communities. There is no more useful language to learn if you intend to continue to live in a particular place than the language of that place if you don't already speak it. Are all of these people planning careers in international banking and therefore learning English instead?
What second language are most of these people learning if they are not learning Latvian or Estonian? Probably none.
I don't believe there's a "physical' impossibility to learning Estonian.
Of course there is such thing. It's not like everyone is capable of learning foreign language later on in life, not since early childhood.
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As Magnus said, the Swedes in Finland all speak Finnish. And Swedes have a greater leap to make in learning Estonian/Finnish than Russians do, since Swedish has a very simple grammar.
But I'm sure they are immersed into it since their early childhood? Both are quite "intertwined" in the society; both of "Northern" descent - aren't they?
But Russians and Estonians - not so much. Hence - no immersion from the early age on.
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But what you're saying, essentially, when you say Russians see no value in learning Estonian, is that their main problem is one of attitude. They're creating the obstacle by convincing themselves that Estonian language and culture are worthless, instead of approaching study of the language as an adventure of discovery, not to mention the not small matter that it is a stepping-stone to citizenship.
What can I say other than repeat myself that they see no value in Estonian language, citizenship or not.
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And yes, Western university students, and some people who want to travel to or live in Finland, do learn Finnish or Hungarian.
Yes, that's "Western University students." Apparently they see value in going to those universities to begin with and hence - learning the language. That was their choice. A lot of Russians don't feel that situation they are in was a matter of choice.
The idea that Russian speakers don't want to learn Latvian or Estonian because it is of no value is ridiculous. Most of us live 99% of our lives in our local communities. There is no more useful language to learn if you intend to continue to live in a particular place than the language of that place if you don't already speak it. Are all of these people planning careers in international banking and therefore learning English instead?
What second language are most of these people learning if they are not learning Latvian or Estonian? Probably none.
I suspect that when they are inclined to learn foreign languages, they'd probably go for English, before they'd go for Estonian.
Except that in Tallinn, Estonian is not a foreign language!
To Russian speakers it obviously is.
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